December 2009 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT: New fourth paradigm of science
by Canopus56 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Thanks, Joe. It appears the book is also available online for free. - Kurt Free MS online-book - The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/fourthparadigm/

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cheap meteor camera?
by Canopus56 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Patrick, Glad to hear it would thread in. Waiting to see if you can coax out a image that also captures the Milky Way on an upcoming clear night. - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cheap meteor camera?
by Canopus56 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Daniel, Thanks for the correction using the Archimedes hat trick formula. - Kurt

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cheap meteor camera?
by Canopus56 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Patrick, The magnitude reach of any sensor is also limited by the signal strength in terms of light gathering as measured in radiance (Watts per sq meter per steradian). There are 12.57 steradians in a sphere, 6.27 steradians in half sphere dome and 3.18 steradians in a 90 deg TFOV. As you increase the TFOV from 90 to 180 degrees, the signal per square meter of your camera chip is halved. This may inherently cap the telescopic limiting magnitude of any all-sky camera to very bright objects regardless of the state-of-art of CCD chips. The expensive discontinued SBIG All Sky Meteor cam quoted a TLM of mag 4. http://www.sbig.com/products/allsky.htm (with sample output images) It used an "ST-402ME mated to a 2.6 mm focal length F/1.6 CS- mount lens" yielding a TFOV of 90 x 140 degrees. http://www.sbig.com/products/402_new.htm - Kurt

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Test Message 02
by gwclark＠gwclark.com 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Test Message 02 Testing mail client settings. GW

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Beetle Bailey meets Epsilon Aurigae
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=41668 patrick :)

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Nova now ~ 10.25
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

In case anyone's interested, I took more data on the nova that was found late last month and found it's now down from a high of about 9.0 when I started daily imaging on the 30th to about 10.25 tonight (that's with a red filter). And speaking of imaging tonight this has got to be one of the better nights in a while. Seeing is very transparent and steady, temperature is staying very constant (it's dropped less than 1 degree in the past 4 hours) and the stars are tiny and well defined. I seem to remember that David R is currently in southern Utah to do some imaging. If he's out tonight (Are you David?) he's probably getting some great shots. patrick

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Fwd: A Big New Sunspot Emerges
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Begin forwarded message: > From: SpaceWeather.com <swlist(a)spaceweather.com> > Date: 15 December 2009 12:30:58 MST > To: SpaceWeather.com <swlist(a)spaceweather.com> > Subject: A Big New Sunspot Emerges > > Space Weather News for Dec. 15, 2009 > http://spaceweather.com > > BIG NEW SUNSPOT: Just yesterday, sunspot 1035 was nearly invisible. Today, it is as wide as seven planet Earths. The fast-growing active region burst into view on Dec. 14th with a magnetic polarity that clearly identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. If the expansion continues apace, it could soon become the largest sunspot of the year. Check http://spaceweather.com for movies, photos and updates. > > SOLAR ACTIVITY ALERTS: Would you like a call or text message the next time the sun unleashes a big solar flare--or when a geomagnetic storm erupts? Sign up for Spaceweather Phone and never miss another big event on the sun: http://spaceweatherphone.com . > > You are subscribed to the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of Spaceweather.com. > > New subscribers may sign up for free space weather alerts at http://spaceweather.com/services/ .

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OT: New fourth paradigm of science
by Canopus56 16 Dec '09

16 Dec '09

Book review Jim Gray. 2009. The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/science/15books.html?th&emc=th "In a speech given just a few weeks before he was lost at sea off the California coast in January 2007, Jim Gray, a database software pioneer and a Microsoft researcher, sketched out an argument that computing was fundamentally transforming the practice of science. Dr. Gray called the shift a 'fourth paradigm.' The first three paradigms were experimental, theoretical and, more recently, computational science. He explained this paradigm as an evolving era in which an 'exaflood' of observational data was threatening to overwhelm scientists. The only way to cope with it, he argued, was a new generation of scientific computing tools to manage, visualize and analyze the data flood. In essence, computational power created computational science, which produced the overwhelming flow of data, which now requires a computing change. . . . . The essays also chronicle a new generation of scientific instruments that are increasingly part sensor, part computer, and which are capable of producing and capturing vast floods of data. For example, the Australian Square Kilometre Array of radio telescopes, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and the Pan-Starrs array of telescopes are each capable of generating several petabytes of digital information each day . . . " Clear Skies - Kurt P.S. - An effect we see in astronomy with the Sloan DSS, the Galaxy Zoo Project and the JPL project to classify Mars Recon Orbitor images and BOINC. http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cheap meteor camera?
by Patrick Wiggins 15 Dec '09

15 Dec '09

Hi Gary, I don't have a lens for it so I don't know how faint it will go "unaided". When I use it with a C-5 I can get down to about mag 10 or so. With luck I'll be borrowing a lens from Kurt shortly and then I'll be able to see how faint the camera will go without a scope. I'll post the results here. patrick On 15 Dec 2009, at 10:38, gwclark(a)gwclark.com wrote: > Patrick, > > In your experience what it the limiting magnitude of the PC164C? > > Also, I've been playing with a webcam using a 200 degree door viewer as a fish eye lens. Just a thought. > > Thanks, > > GW > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Cheap meteor camera? > From: Patrick Wiggins <paw(a)wirelessbeehive.com> > Date: Mon, December 14, 2009 11:15 pm > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > > I took advantage of this evening's clear skies to try out the Super Circuits PC88WR (90 degree FOV / 0.003 lux). > > Compact and easy to mount using the supplied mounting hardware. Easy to hook up and operate. > > I first pointed it at Polaris which barely registered. > > Then over to Orion. All of the 7 brightest stars registered but of those the faintest (the belt stars) just barely registered. > > So it looks like mag 2 is about as faint as it will go. > > I might have thought about keeping it anyway but there was also a very bright hot pixel at lower center. So it's going back with a suggestion the offer a similar camera but with the "guts" of the PC164C which is rated at 0.001 lux. > > I have a PC164C but no lens. However a friend has a lens he thinks will fit so I'll be trying that next. > > patrick

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